Richard M. Nixon Becomes President With 'Sacred Commitment' to Peace

Richard M. Nixon became the 37th President of the United States yesterday with a "sacred commitment" to devote himself and his office to the cause of peace.

The grocer's son from the small town of Whittler, Calif., the only man in this century to be defeated for the Presidency and then come back to win, completed the oath of office at 12:16 p.m. Less than two weeks ago he celebrated his 56th birthday.

In a solemn and restrained Inaugural Address, devoid of slogans, orator's gestures or specific proposals, Mr. Nixon promised to listen as well as to lead in the quest for national and international reconciliation.

He called upon Americans to "lower our voices" and to shun inflated and angry rhetoric.

"We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another, until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices," he declared.

The physical security accorded the new President on his first day in office was the most elaborate in memory, including more than 3000 District police, 5000 regular troops and 1000 National Guardsmen deployed at the Capitol, along the parade route and throughout the city.

The disorderly demonstrators numbered about a thousand among the many thousands along the parade route.

According to District police, a total of at least 81 persons were arrested in the disorders. Twelve persons were injured, including one policeman.

For the most part, however, Mr. Nixon was greeted with good will and good wishes expressed with much the same spirit of restraint that characterized his Inaugural Address. There seemed to be a sense on all sides that the Nation's problems are too deep and the difficulties too severe for either exultation or partisanship.

The Democratic Party's power was forged in the depression when, Mr. Nixon noted, the Nation's deepest troubles were described by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as concerning "thank God, only material things."

"Our crisis today is the reverse," Mr. Nixon declared to the crowd of 65,000 gathered at the Capitol under leaden, windless skies.

"We have found ourselves rich in goods but ragged in spirit; reaching with magnificent precision for the moon but falling into raucous discord here on earth."